The Steam War (The Steam War #1)

Chapter 5: The Gist of it

"So, Sail, what do you do in your free time?" Gogs asked, twirling a pencil in between his fingers. He went into his learning pose again.

"Well, prior to boarding the Globetrotter, I did some airship design and piloting stuff. My older brother and I used to fly the length of our hometown together. Then, after my brother came here to study, I practiced alone with my dad. He taught me how to steer and fly by age ten. I guess now I just wait around until the next day."

"Well, that's no fun," Cog said. "How about we go to the game room at some point tonight and relax?"

"Sounds fun!"

Cog and Sail were practically beaming at the boys, who just shrugged and went with it. The two seemed to click together, despite having met less than a day ago.

Lukas walked in, along with quite a few other people. The wave of brown overcoats and white shirts brought a lot more noise with it, drowning out the quiet ticks and whistles of gears and pipes.

"When do y'all normally get to the study hall?" Sail asked. "It seems pretty early compared to everyone else." She did her best to avoid eye contact with Lukas. Sprocket noticed her efforts.

"In the morning," Gogs teased.

"Helpful."

"I do my best. We're supposed to get here at seven, but somebody doesn't get here on time."

"My alarm went off late!" Cog said, pointlessly defending herself.

"Excuses, excuses. We also head here straight out of class."

"Hey, Sail," Sprocket said, "come here for a second." He got up from the table and beckoned her over to an unoccupied corner. She followed him over, already knowing what he was going to ask.

"Is there something wrong, Sail? You were trying to avoid looking at Lukas."

"Yeah," she replied, "I just don't really like him."

"Don't lie," he countered. "I don't like him. You were avoiding him."

"Would you believe me if I told you nothing was wrong?"

"No. But I think I might understand."

She was pretty sure he didn't understand. At the very least, he probably figured something half-flirty had happened between them. At most, he figured Lukas had made some sort of advance she wasn't comfortable with. In reality, it was a lot stranger than that. Still, she proceeded with the conversation carefully.

"Seriously? Usually, boys are brain-dead to this kind of stuff." Her response was vague enough to relate to anything, hopefully.

"So I've heard." Sprocket glanced down, and for a moment, she thought he had a frown on his face. Whatever was going through his head only lasted a moment, though. He decided he wasn't getting any more information out of her and gave her a warm grin. "When we go back to the table, wink at me."

"Why?"

"If you want Gogs to like you more, trust me."

Okay, so maybe he isn't totally brain-dead to this kind of stuff, she thought. A blush creeped over her face.

"Aha!" he said. "I was right. Okay, great. We got this." He seemed to psyche himself up for a second, and they both went to sit down.

Gogs gazed over at her, so she winked at Sprocket, sticking her tongue out to make it seem like there was some sort of conversation or inside joke going on.

Gogs took it personally.

It was his turn to pull someone over to the side.

"Sprocket, over here," he said. Cog observed the three of them one-by-one, completely confused.